The Fromex 86th street location, the highest volume store
in the 13-store chain, has an active window but the inside of the
store is built for processing efficiency and has relatively little
in the way of promotional and display material.The Nanuet Mall (NY) is representative of the four mall
location in the Fromex chain with attractive displays and varied
merchandise offerings.

There was a time when one-hour photo processing did not exist.
For those who joined the one-hour business after, let's say 1985,
and may not know the background, let me offer a little bit of
history.
To the best of my memory, just one man envisioned the concept of a
free standing photo processing retail operation. One time the only
way to get color film processed was to bring your roll to a drug or
grocery store where it would await pickup by a wholesale lab's
delivery car. "Yes, Ma'am, your roll will be ready in about a
week."
The man was Dr. Bruce Frome, yes a real MD, an anesthesiologist as
I recall, who, according to legend, saw a machine in Japan that
processed film on site - and very quickly. It was a Noritsu. It was
his idea to bring to the U.S. the concept of franchised specialty
stores dedicated to the sole business of offering on-site photo
finishing in one hour. An unheard of idea. Immodestly, he named the
chain Fromex.
The doctor and his wife, who was an important player at Fromex,
were from California and it was natural that most of the early
franchises were situated in that state. The idea worked and the
stores did well as entrepreneurs from outside the photo industry
bought up the franchises at prices that ranged to as much as
$50-75,000 to seek their fortunes. At peak, I'm told, the chain
consisted of about 80 locations.
But there was a weak link in the business model. Instead of finding
a franchisee first and getting that person to upfront the money to
build a location, the typical plan for a franchiser, Fromex would
build and develop each site first and then sell the going business
to a franchisee. Dr. Frome created a huge infrastructure that
included a big headquarters building, personnel, training
facilities, outlabbing for franchisees, a printing plant,
etc.
However, the cash demands of Dr. Frome's plan were such that by
1983 the operation had such a huge overhead that it collapsed of
its own weight.
The early success of the Fromex operations in California was the
basis for a feature story in the New York Times in 1981 that so
piqued my own interest in one-hour that I decided to go into the
business myself. By December, 1981, I had opened the first of my
eight Photo To Go stores in New Jersey. They were subsequently sold
to Moto Photo.
Dr. Frome was building an empire. I'll never forget the 1982 PMA
convention in Las Vegas. When the good doctor and his wife entered
the always-crowded Noritsu cocktail party one night the sea just
parted for Their Royal Highnesses. A sight to behold.
The end was abrupt and the bankruptcy judge cut free the Fromex
franchisees who were allowed to continue to use the name. Even
though their franchise fee was lost and they would not receive the
promised services, at least they could continue to own their
business.
One of the remaining four is the Fromex group that began with the
purchase of five franchise sites from Fromex in 1982 by Dan Silna
and his nephew, Jeff, both New Jerseyites. Two were in New York
City, one each in Honolulu, San Francisco and Baltimore. The latter
two were subsequently sold or closed.

SOLE SURVIVOR
Over the years, the Silna's Fromex chain has grown to 13 stores. At
13, it is probably one of the few remaining one-hour operations of
its size, most others having been gobbled up as Ritz and Wolf were
blitzkrieging throughout the country a few years ago.
Having a store in Honolulu might be the envy of many mainland
operators who would salivate at the thought of visiting that branch
a few times a year. Considering, however, that eight of the Fromex
stores are in Manhattan and four more in NY metro regional malls,
one might need those R&R trips to Hawaii.
Manhattan is not the retail market for everybody. You won't find a
Wal-Mart or a Home Depot, Lowe's or Target in the Big Apple. Or
even a Ritz Camera. (Yes, Wolf Camera is here with three stores.
More later.) This is not everyone's cup of tea. I know when I was
looking to expand my New Jersey chain, Manhattan wasn't even on my
'B' list, let along the 'A.' High rent ($125-150/sq. ft.),
personnel quality and availability, location, salaries and
competition are only a few items on the list of negatives for
anyone considering a retail situation here.
That doesn't mean that retail fortunes aren't made in Manhattan.
Obviously, they are. Putting aside the retail giants like Macy's
and Lord & Taylor, there are literally thousands of small
specialty retailers that make it big. It's just that it takes a
special breed of owner to successfully deal with the New York
marketplace.